These words filled the centurion with admiration, and, afraid to seem ignorant, he said he remembered having seen Joseph and knew him to be a friend of Pilate.  Well then, come with me at once to Jerusalem, Joseph said coaxingly, and you’ll see that Pilate will order thee to deliver the dead unto me.  But the centurion demurred, saying that his orders were not to leave the gibbets.  Upon my own word, Pilate will not deliver up the body unless I bring you with me; I shall require you to testify of the death.  So come with me.  The unwillingness of the centurion was reduced to naught at the mention of a sum of money, and, giving orders to his soldiers that nothing was to be done during his absence, he walked beside Joseph’s horse into Jerusalem, telling to Joseph as they went the story of the arrest in the garden, the haling of Jesus before the High Priest, and the sending of him on to Pilate, who, though unwilling to confirm the sentence of death, was afraid of a riot, and had yielded to the people’s wish.  The account of the scourging of Jesus in the hall of the palace, and the bribing of the soldiers by the Jews to make a mocking-stock of Jesus, was not finished when Joseph, who had been listening without hearing, said:  here is the door.

And while they waited for the door to be opened, and after the doorkeeper had opened it, the centurion continued to tell his tale:  how a purple cloak was thrown upon the shoulders of Jesus, a reed put into his hand, and a crown of thorns pressed upon his forehead.  We wondered how it was that he said nothing.  We have come to see his worship, Joseph interrupted; and the doorkeeper, who knew Joseph to be a friend of Pilate, was embarrassed, for Pilate had sent down an order that he would see no one again that day; but, like the centurion, he was amenable to money, and consented to take in Joseph’s name.  There was no need to give him money, he would not have dared to refuse Pilate’s friend, the centurion said as they waited.

Word came back quickly that Joseph was to be admitted, and after begging Pilate to forgive him for intruding upon his privacy so late in the day, he put his request into words, saying straight away:  I have come to ask for the body of Jesus, who was condemned to the cross at noon.  At these words Pilate’s face became overcast, and he said that he regretted that Joseph had come to ask him for something he could not grant.  It would have been pleasant to leave Jerusalem knowing that I never refused you anything, Joseph, for you are the one Jew for whom I have any respect, and, I may add, some affection.  But why, Pilate, cannot you give me Jesus’ body?  His body, is that what you ask for, Joseph?  It seemed to me that you had come to ask me to undo the sentence that I pronounced to-day at noon.  The body!  Is Jesus dead then?  The centurion answered for Joseph:  yes, sir; he died to-day at the ninth hour.  I put a lance into him to make sure, and blood and water came from his side.